An Amendment with wide bipartisan support would update the state's personnel system for the first time in four decades.

Amendment S won the support of Gov. John Hickenlooper and former Govs. Bill Ritter and Bill Owens, as well as the unanimous support of the state legislature.

The new system would give preference to veterans seeking jobs, make it easier for seasonal workers who have already been tested and hired -- and then trained -- to return the next year. It would also exempt 325 jobs from the personnel system, allowing them to be filled with appointees.

This understandably brings up concerns over cronyism, but those positions comprise 1 percent of the state workforce. The politicians making their appointments would still be accountable at the ballot box.

It seems reasonable that if we're going to ask the government to be more efficient, we should give it the tools to do so.

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